Survival Skills Course

Lesson 1 • Threat Assessment and Prioritization

Teaches systematic evaluation of immediate versus long-term threats. Connects threat ranking directly to resource and energy allocation decisions.

Lesson 2 • The Rule of Threes

Introduces the physiological time limits governing survival priorities. Provides a decision hierarchy students apply throughout the entire course.

Lesson 3 • Understanding the Survival Mindset

Defines the psychological traits that determine survival outcomes. Establishes why attitude outweighs equipment in most emergency scenarios.

Lesson 4 • Decision-Making Under Pressure

Covers cognitive biases and tunnel vision that degrade judgment in crises. Students practise structured decision loops to maintain clarity under duress.

Lesson 1 • Building a 72-Hour Emergency Kit

Specifies essential supplies for short-term self-sufficiency after a disaster. Students audit and assemble a functional kit meeting core survival needs.

Lesson 2 • Identifying Likely Threat Scenarios

Maps common natural and man-made disasters to geographic and lifestyle contexts. Grounds all subsequent planning in realistic, location-specific risk.

Lesson 3 • Communication and Information Management

Addresses maintaining situational awareness when normal infrastructure fails. Students configure backup communication systems and information verification habits.

Lesson 4 • Shelter-in-Place Strategies

Covers home hardening, supply staging, and communication protocols for extended lockdowns. Connects directly to kit-building skills from the previous section.

Lesson 1 • Water Collection Techniques

Covers rain catchment, solar stills, transpiration bags, and dew collection. Students construct and test at least two improvised collection systems.

Lesson 2 • Water Storage and Contamination Prevention

Addresses container selection, rotation schedules, and cross-contamination risks. Ensures purified water remains safe through proper handling and storage.

Lesson 3 • Purification Methods and Effectiveness

Compares boiling, chemical treatment, filtration, and UV purification across threat types. Students select appropriate methods based on available resources and contaminants.

Lesson 4 • Locating Water Sources in the Field

Teaches terrain reading, vegetation indicators, and animal behaviour cues for finding water. Builds field observation skills used in later navigation chapters.

Lesson 1 • Wild Plant Identification and Foraging

Introduces safe foraging principles, universal edibility testing, and common edible plants. Emphasises risk management to prevent poisoning from misidentification.

Lesson 2 • Trapping, Fishing, and Small Game

Teaches improvised trapping, basic fishing techniques, and small game processing. Connects protein procurement to the caloric requirements established earlier.

Lesson 3 • Caloric and Nutritional Requirements

Defines minimum caloric intake for sedentary versus high-exertion survival scenarios. Establishes the nutritional framework guiding all food procurement decisions.

Lesson 4 • Field Cooking and Food Safety

Covers fire-based and flameless cooking methods alongside food safety temperature standards. Prevents foodborne illness in environments without refrigeration.

Lesson 1 • Fire Lay Designs and Fire Management

Demonstrates log cabin, star, and Dakota hole fire lays for cooking, warmth, and signalling. Students manage fire safely and extinguish it completely without water.

Lesson 2 • Tinder, Kindling, and Fuel Preparation

Covers material selection, processing, and staging for reliable ignition and sustained burn. Students identify and prepare natural tinder bundles from local materials.

Lesson 3 • Fire Science and the Fire Triangle

Explains combustion chemistry and the interdependence of fuel, heat, and oxygen. Provides the conceptual model that informs all fire-starting troubleshooting.

Lesson 4 • Modern Ignition Tools and Techniques

Evaluates lighters, ferrocerium rods, waterproof matches, and magnesium strikers. Students practise reliable ignition under wet and windy conditions.

Lesson 1 • Heat Loss Mechanisms and Body Temperature

Explains conduction, convection, radiation, and evaporation as heat loss pathways. Provides the physiological basis for all shelter and clothing decisions.

Lesson 2 • Site Selection for Shelter

Teaches criteria for choosing safe, defensible, and thermally efficient shelter locations. Connects terrain reading skills introduced in the water chapter.

Lesson 3 • Clothing Layering and Thermal Regulation

Applies the three-layer clothing system to cold, wet, and hot environments. Students select and adjust layers to prevent hypothermia and hyperthermia.

Lesson 4 • Tarp and Improvised Shelter Systems

Demonstrates tarp configurations, cordage anchoring, and improvised materials for rapid shelter. Bridges natural-material skills to gear-assisted field sheltering.

Lesson 1 • GPS and Digital Navigation Tools

Covers GPS device operation, coordinate entry, and offline map applications. Emphasises digital tools as supplements to, not replacements for, analog skills.

Lesson 2 • Celestial and Natural Navigation

Introduces sun, star, and shadow-based direction finding as compass-free alternatives. Reinforces redundancy principles established in the fire chapter.

Lesson 3 • Map Reading Fundamentals

Covers topographic map symbols, contour interpretation, and grid coordinate systems. Establishes the spatial literacy required for all subsequent navigation techniques.

Lesson 4 • Compass Use and Orienteering

Teaches compass anatomy, declination adjustment, and bearing-based travel. Students navigate a set course using map-and-compass triangulation.

Lesson 1 • Bleeding Control and Wound Care

Covers direct pressure, tourniquet application, wound packing, and improvised dressings. Addresses the leading cause of preventable death in wilderness emergencies.

Lesson 2 • Patient Assessment System

Teaches the scene size-up, primary survey, and secondary survey sequence. Provides the systematic framework applied to every medical scenario in this chapter.

Lesson 3 • Evacuation Decision-Making and Improvised Litters

Establishes criteria for urgent versus non-urgent evacuation and improvised carry techniques. Integrates navigation skills to plan the safest extraction route.

Lesson 4 • Fractures, Dislocations, and Improvised Splinting

Teaches fracture assessment, traction splinting principles, and improvised splint construction. Enables safe patient movement when evacuation is required.